Sometimes the chase is more rewarding than the capture, the hunt more interesting than the game.

So it is with baseball big game hunter David King and his maddeningly elusive and forgotten prey, Hall of Famer Ross Youngs.

The reason that Youngs is elusive is the same reason he's forgotten: He died in the prime of his career more than 85 years ago. He was great enough to earn himself entry into Cooperstown, but not legendary enough — lacking signature career moments — to make himself unforgettable.

But the fact is that Youngs has been forgotten, and that's what gives “Ross Youngs: In Search of a San Antonio Baseball Legend” its title and King, a former Express-News sportswriter and baseball historian, his mission.

Youngs was born in Shiner in 1897 but grew up in San Antonio, attending San Antonio High School where, despite his diminutive size, he excelled not only in baseball but also as a running back in football, where his amazing speed and broken field running ability kept him out of harm's way.

He played his first pro game at age 16. By 1917, he was playing right field for the New York Giants, one of baseball's elite teams in the early 20th century, and the legendary manager John McGraw.

Youngs would become a .322 career hitter and play in four World Series. His last hit was a triple in August 1926, but by then he was afflicted with the kidney disease that ended his life, at the age of 30, in 1927, here in San Antonio. He's buried in Mission Burial Park.

There's a divorce, a young daughter he never met, and a legal fight over his house on Euclid Avenue between his mother and ex-wife after his death. But with no contemporaries to talk about him, there's not much King has to work with.

But King breathes life into Youngs with his reportorial skills and wonderful writing. San Antonians will especially appreciate King's tour through the checkpoints in Youngs' life in San Antonio and find him a descriptive and knowledgeable travel guide through the city's past.

Ross Youngs will never be one of baseball's immortals. But thanks to King, he won't be completely forgotten.

Former San Antonio Express-News columnist Cary Clack is the district director for U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro. Reach him at cclack33@gmail.com.